Jason Biggs
|Image = Jason_Biggs.png|Years Active = 1983–present|Count = 27}} Jason Matthew Biggs (born on May 12, 1978) is an American actor best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films. He voiced Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and portrayed Larry Bloom in Seasons One and Two of Orange Is the New Black. Early life Biggs was born in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey. His mother, Angela (née Zocco), is a nurse, and his father, Gary Louis Biggs, is a shipping company manager. Biggs' father is of English and Italian descent and Biggs' mother is of Sicilian descent. His last name is derived from his English ancestry. He was raised Roman Catholic. He grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School there. Biggs had success in tennis while in high school. Biggs attended Montclair State University for three weeks before dropping out. Career Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived Fox network series Drexell's Class. He also made a one-off HBO special, The Fotis Sevastakis Story, but due to licensing arguments, it was never aired. That same year, Biggs debuted on Broadway in Conversations with My Father, which helped pave the way for him to participate in the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns. He was nominated for the award of Best Younger Actor at the daytime Emmy Awards for his role. Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996–1997, but soon afterwards, he returned to pursue acting. And so he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997's Camp Stories. He then starred in American Pie, which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). After that, Biggs accepted starring roles in movies such as Loser in 2000, and others. He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared as Jerry Falk in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Anything Else. In the 2004–2005 season Biggs portrayed an Orthodox Jew in Daniel Goldfarb's comedy, Modern Orthodox, staged at Dodger Stages theater in New York City. In 2006, Biggs was seen in the MTV reality show Blowin' Up with Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone which led to his participation in a hip-hop recording with Bay Area rapper E-40. Biggs returned to the stage in the fall of 2008 in Howard Korder's Boys' Life at New York City's Second Stage Theatre. Biggs has appeared in several other films, including Texas Rangers, Scary Movie and Over Her Dead Body. In 2010, Biggs made his literary debut by contributing "Scratch-and-Sniff," a poem about growing up in New Jersey, to the anthology What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour through New Jersey (Word Riot Press, 2010), alongside writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Gerald Stern and J. Robert Lennon. In 2012, he contributed to the anthology, Oy! Only Six? Why Not More: Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life. His contribution, "This is a Roman nose, OK?", was both ironic and prescient: Biggs is not Jewish and the editor of the anthology is Larry Smith (editor), creator of Six-Word Memoirs and who a year later would be the basis for Orange Is the New Black character Larry Bloom. Biggs reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in American Reunion, which was released on April 6, 2012. In the summer of 2012, Biggs took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He left the series during its second season and was temporarily replaced by Dominic Catrambone. Seth Green will permanently take over the role from Biggs beginning in season 3. Biggs also plays the cowbell in the supergroup Yukon Kornelius. Personal life Biggs has stated in interviews that he is sometimes cast as an explicitly or implicitly Jewish character, as he was in American Pie (other examples include his roles in Saving Silverman, Prozac Nation, Anything Else, and Orange is the New Black), though he is not Jewish himself. In January 2008, he became engaged to his My Best Friend's Girl co-star, actress Jenny Mollen; they married on April 23, 2008. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. In July 2013, Biggs and Mollen announced they were expecting their first child. The couple welcomed their son, Sid Biggs, on February 15, 2014. Controversy Biggs made headlines when he made vulgar jokes about Ann Romney and Janna Ryan during the 2012 Republican National Convention. In March 2014, Biggs caused controversy when joking about the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370. He made further controversy in May 2014 when he mocked the death of The Bachelorette contestant Eric Hill. He also teamed up with PETA and appeared in an anti-Sea World commercial, protesting the captivity of whales. Category:Cast